Loyce Navarro and the Philisopher's Stone
by NatalieLove13
Summary: Loyce Navarro is a young witch at her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Little does she know that this is not just an ordinary school year. The Loyce Navarro series is the story of Harry Potter from a different point of view. There WILL be 17 chapters eventually - one for each chapter in the original book, so please be patient. Loyce is not pronounced Lois.
1. The Boy Who Lived

AUTHOR'S NOTE: It was really hard to come up with something to write for this first chapter, so please don't take this as an example of what the rest will be like. In fact, the story only really gets interesting (I think) from chapter 5, but chapters 1-4 are still important to introduce characters and the relationships between them. If you are finding it boring at the beginning, please at least skim through the first chapters.

**- Chapter One-**

**The Boy Who Lived**

The 31st of October 1981. It was Halloween, the night that everything changed.

I was not even five months old, but I have heard the story countless times. The story of how three month old Harry Potter defeated the darkest and most evil wizard of all time, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Of course, that is not his real name - his real name is Voldemort - but I've been brought up to fear his name. It's always Who-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. It drives me insane, but I dare not use his name in any company. It feels wrong.

I know that no one could ever give a perfect recount of the situation (one witness was a baby, one was destroyed and the others were murdered - hardly the best sources), but according to my parents and the papers of the time, it went a little something like this:

Times were desperate. People were scared to step outside their front doors. You-Know-Who's followers, the Death Eaters, were everywhere and you didn't want to cross them. You were even with them or against them and if you were against them then you were dead. Hundreds of witches and wizards were murdered and the Ministry could do nothing to stop it.

One night, for some unknown reason, You-Know-Who himself entered the Potter household where Lily and James Potter and their baby son Harry lived as a completely normal family. Both Lily and James were murdered - no one could escape You-Know-Who. He then turned his wand on little Harry Potter and spoke the words '_Avada Kedavra_' - the killing curse. But, for some reason, the curse rebounded. You-Know-Who was destroyed and Harry was left with nothing more then a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead.

Nobody knows how. Nobody knows why. But something special happened on that night. Something that would change our lives and save our future. Ever since, witches and wizards all over the world have been toasting to Harry Potter - the boy who lived.


	2. The Vanishing Glass

**- Chapter Two-**

**The Vanishing Glass**

Nearly ten years had passed since You-Know-Who - and Harry Potter - had disappeared from the wizarding world and life for me and my family had changed dramatically. We were now free to be who we wanted to be without being in fear of our lives. Not that there was anything particularly unusual about us - we were a normal family

I woke up at around 7:30, which was early for me, on the morning of my eleventh birthday. I opened my eyes slowly and sat up, wondering what had woken me up. I smiled, hearing the culprit - my family's five-year-old cat, Nox. I pushed back my sheets and made my way to the door, opening it and watching Nox slink through the gap. I clambered back into bed and groaned as the black cat jumped onto my stomach, falling back into a light sleep in seconds.

I woke up again about two hours later and decided that this time it was time to actually get up. I pushed Nox off my shoulder, pushed my glasses onto my nose and grabbed my dressing gown, pulling it onto my arms as the cat followed me down the hallway and into the living room. I grabbed a banana and sat down at the kitchen table in front of a large pile of presents.

"Finally!" exclaimed my twin sister, Lou, who had, apparently, been awake for quite a while, waiting for me to get up before we could open our presents.

Despite being twins, the two of us were nothing alike. Ok, so we both had brown hair and brown eyes, but our eyes, noses and mouths were completely different shapes, I was tall and she was just average height and we liked completely different things. I was a fan of everything muggle, but she would have nothing to do with anything nonmagical. I had just finished constructing a muggle 'CD player' and was hoping for some CDs. There wasn't much difference between wizard and muggle bands and some of them happened to be pretty good.

Lou and I began ripping open our presents; a new watch, a lot of books, some clothes, chocolate and cake sent by our friends and, sure enough, some muggle CDs.

"Now," said our mother, "Where are going to go this year?"

Every year, our parents would take us somewhere new for our birthday. Well, for the soonest Saturday after our birthday. We'd been all over the UK, from the old castles of Scotland, to the dragon enclosures in Wales.

We both thought for a few seconds, when I suggested, "How about a muggle place?" Lou groaned. "Like a zoo, or something." I hoped that Lou would be ok with _that_ idea - she quite liked animals. Not as much as I did, though.

Our parents looked at each other. They seemed hesitant and I chewed my bottom lip in anticipation.

"Well," began our father, "I suppose if it's ok with you, Lou..." he trailed off.

Lou sighed. "I suppose so."

"And, as always, you can each bring a friend," added our mother. Lou's face brightened and I nodded in acknowledgement. I didn't have any really close friends, so I would bring one of Lou's friends and wander along behind them. That would be ok, though. I liked my own company and it would give me a chance to examine the creatures at the zoo without their comments. I grinned.

Five days later, on Saturday morning, I was sitting in my room listening to my new music, when I heard my parents call. I switched the CD player off and walked into the living room where they were ready to leave and Lou was chatting to Etta and Kalyn. They both said hello to me and we left.

By the time we got to the zoo, it was almost lunch time. I bought us some food from the zoo restaurant with a stash of muggle money that I had collected over the years.

After lunch I managed to drag my family and friends to the reptile house. Despite the dozens of beautiful lizards and snakes, the thing that amazed me the most was the hugest boy I had ever seen. He seemed to be on a family outing as well, but it was a wonder that he could even walk around without falling over. He stood near a boy that was the exact opposite of him; small and seemingly underfed; and another boy that looked rather like a rat. They all looked about my age. There was something unusual about the small boy...

I forced my eyes back to the lizard I was supposed to be looking at, as I heard the rat boy shout.

"DUDLEY! MR DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T _BELIEVE_ WHAT IT'S DOING!"

The whole room turned to look as the large boy walked - no, waddled - over to the giant boa constrictor. He pushed the small boy to the ground and gawked at the snake that wasn't doing anything particularly incredible, other than staring at them. But then, suddenly, it was slithering out of its enclosure and onto the floor. I did a double take. The glass had completely vanished! As if by magic...


	3. The Letters From No One

AUTHOR'S NOTE: In the original book, The Dursleys keep Harry's letters from him and that's what the whole of chapter three was about, and he only gets his letter in chapter 4. That was a bit hard to do in this story, for potentially obvious reasons, so this and the next chapter are a bit short and don't have much new information.

**- Chapter Three -**

**The Letters From No One**

I looked at my parents who quickly ushered the four of us kids out of the room.

None of us spoke until we were back home. We could all recognise magic when we saw it, but us kids were too young to be able to do magic and my parents wouldn't have set a boa constrictor loose on the muggle public. But we had been the only wizard and witches at the zoo that day. Hadn't we?

After Etta and Kalyn had gone back to their homes, I shut myself in my room and turned my music back on.

The next month was relatively uneventful.

Etta turned eleven, but we stayed well away from any muggle places. We didn't bring up what had happened. We couldn't explain it, so we tried to forget about it.

I had managed to get my hands on a few more CDs and had been enjoying them in my room by myself.

By the 23rd July, I had finished all of my books and knew all the songs on all the CDs by heart. I was sitting in Etta's backyard watching her whizzing around on her broomstick alongside Lou and Kalyn. I didn't like flying because I didn't like heights much. They were ok, but I preferred to keep my feet on the ground. The four of us were discussing the next seven years of our lives. School - Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We didn't know for sure that we were going, but who wasn't?

At that point, we were discussing houses. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin.

"I'm going to be in Gryffindor!" exclaimed Lou.

"So am I," replied Etta, and Kalyn nodded in agreement.

"What house do you think you'll be in, Loyce?" asked Etta.

I had thought about that carefully and could give my answer without hesitation.

"Ravenclaw." I knew I was academically smarter and more logical than the three of them.

Lou laughed. "Why do you want to be in Ravenclaw? They're all antisocial nerds who don't care about anything but getting full marks!"

I shrugged. "Why do you think you'll be in Gryffindor?"

Kalyn spoke up. "Because we're brave and bold." She said it with a smile, but it still sounded extremely vain. I suppose I could sound vain too, if I said I was going to be in Ravenclaw because I was smart.

"Why _do_ you want to be in Ravenclaw," asked Etta.

"Ravenclaws are individuals. And there have been a lot of famous Ravenclaws."

"Yeah, like who?" Lou interjected.

"Perpetua Fancourt who invented the lunascope, Laverne de Montmorency who invented some love potions, Ignatia Wildsmith who invented Floo powder..."

"But they're all _inventors_," she replied.

"I know. That's the point. They've invented things that have become fundamental objects in our society. They've dedicated their lives to helping people and making our lives more efficient."

"Well," she sighed, "if that's what you want to do... Most people don't get famous. You'll probably just be throwing your life away. Look at our parents. No one knows who they are!" Both our mother and father had been Ravenclaws.

"I didn't say I wanted to be an inventor, just that they're inspiring people and it would be an honour to be placed among them. I want to work with magical creatures."

"I'm happy with whatever house I'm in, I'd just prefer Gryffindor," said Kalyn. "As long as I'm not in Hufflepuff. I'd rather be in Slytherin!" The others nodded.

"I'm sure there's nothing wrong with Hufflepuff," I muttered to myself. That was true. Sure, I didn't want to be in Hufflepuff and I didn't consider myself to be the type of person who would make a good Hufflepuff, but they had their benefits. They didn't have to be top of their class like Ravenclaws, they didn't have to be good at everything else like Gryffindors and they didn't have a dark aura surrounding them like Slytherins. They were happy and friendly people.

I checked my watch. "We should probably get home, Lou. It's getting late."

"I suppose so," she said.

The next morning, I was up early. Seven o'clock this time. And, once again, Lou was already awake.

We were sitting around the table, eating breakfast, when Dragon, our scruffy screech owl, flew in and dropped the day's post in a neat pile in the centre of the table. There was the usual - a few letters for our parents and a copy of the Daily Prophet. But there were two letters made from thick yellow parchment. They were both addressed to _Miss L. Navarro_. Lou grabbed both letters and, after examining them for a few seconds, chucked one of them at me. She began ripping her letter open immediately, but I held mine delicately in my hands for several seconds, before reading the emerald-green address on the front. Of course this was my letter, rather than Lou's - it was addressed to _The Third Bedroom_. Odds were, her's said _The Second Bedroom_.

I turned the letter over and ran my fingers over the crest on the back. The Hogwarts coat of arms consisted of a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a letter 'H'.

I gently pulled away the wax seal, careful not to tear any part of the envelope, and pulled out the two pieces of parchment within.


	4. The Keeper of the Keys

AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you read the author's note on the previous chapter, you will understand why there isn't anything extremely interesting in this chapter and why it's a bit short. There'll be better content in the next chapter.

**- Chapter Four -**

**The Keeper of the Keys**

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Condef. of Wizards)_

_Dear Miss Navarro,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

"We'll send Dragon straight away," smiled our mother.

"When can we go to Diagon Alley?" asked Lou. She was really excited about going to the number one shopping location for school supplies and other magical artifacts in the country. I was too, but I was sure I wouldn't want to go to the same shops as her.

I read through the second page of parchment.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

Uniform  
_First year students will require:_

_- Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

_- One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear_

_- One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

_- One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)_

_Please not that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags_

Set Books  
_All students should have a copy of each of the following_

- The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) _by Miranda Goshawk_

- A History of Magic _by Bathilda Bagshot_

- Magical Theory _by Adalbert Waffling_

- A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration_ by Emeric Switch_

- One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_ by Phyllida Spore_

- Magical Drafts and Potions _by Arsenius Jigger_

- Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander_

- The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _by Quentin Trimble_

Other equipment

_- 1 wand_

_- 1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

_- 1 set glass or crystal phials_

_- 1 telescope_

_- 1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring and owl OR a cat OR a toad  
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS_

We could bring an animal - a pet! I had always wanted a pet of my own and maybe I would finally be allowed one. If I was allowed to, I would get a cat. Cats were my favourite domestic animal and one would make a good friend and companion.

Meanwhile, Lou was complaining about the rule that first years were not allowed their own broomsticks.

"It's not fair!" she winged. "I love flying! I want to have my own broom so I can try out for my House's Quidditch team!"

"First years don't make the Quidditch teams," I said.

"But I'm good at Quidditch," she replied. "I should get in. I've got to be better than other first years. Etta and I will be the beaters, but we can't play well if we don't have our own brooms."

"What if you're not in the same House?"

"We're both gonna be in Gryffindor. Isn't it obvious? We'll be the Gryffindor beaters!"

"You seem to have it all worked out."

"Are you gonna try out for team?" she asked.

I shook my head.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't like flying much and I also know that no first years have been in a House Quidditch team in over a hundred years. I'm not trying to sound rude, but you don't really have a chance of getting into the team," was my reply.

Seeing that she wasn't getting anywhere in the argument, Lou sighed and turned to our mother. "When are we going to Diagon Alley?"

"We'll go this weekend," she replied. "We'll plan for Saturday, but if we don't make it then we'll go on Sunday."

"Can Etta and Kalyn come with us?" she asked.

"I'll check with their parents and if it's ok with them, then it's ok with me."

Lou turned back to me. "I can't wait til Saturday! I want to get my wand! I can't wait til we get to Hogwarts! It's gonna be so cool! Apparently the gamekeeper's a giant! I really want to learn some spells! This is gonna be so awesome!"


	5. Diagon Alley

**- Chapter Five -**

**Diagon Alley**

That Saturday, my parents, Lou, Etta, Kalyn and I had arrived on a perfectly unassuming street.

"We're here!" announced our father.

Lou had obviously been expecting more, especially when our parents led us into a grotty little pub between two muggle shops. No one looked at us as the six of us made our way through the pub and into a small courtyard at the back. My father pulled out his wand and professionally tapped the wall in front of us three times.

A hole appeared in the wall and grew larger until the wall had transformed into a huge archway and before us was Diagon Alley.

We stepped through the archways and it shrunk back into a wall.

"Etta, Kalyn, your parents have given us your vault keys so we can get you some money," said our father. "First stop, Gringotts!"

We made our way through the cobbled street, past Potage's Cauldron Shop, the windows piled high with more types of cauldrons than I knew existed, Flourish and Blotts, a shop I knew I would love to spend hours on end in, the Apothecary, with ingredients that even I didn't care to think about, Quality Quidditch Supplies, a shop I knew Lou and Etta would treasure, Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment, with shelves of strange silver instruments, Eeylops Owl Emporium, Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour, the Magical Menagerie and Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, the only place to go to get school robes. But none of those were where we were going.

Gringotts, a bank run by goblins, was the safest bank in the wizarding world and that was our first stop. We climbed the steps up to the door, where a goblin stood guard. I stopped to read the rhyme engraved on the door.

_Enter, stranger, but take heed_

_Of what awaits the sin of greed,_

_For those who take, but do not earn,_

_Must pay most dearly in their turn,_

_So if you seek beneath our floors_

_A treasure that was never yours,_

_Thief, you have been warned, beware_

_Of finding more than treasure there._

I shuddered. I knew the rhyme was more than just words. It made me wonder what measures could possibly be in place to stop a powerful witch or wizard.

The goblin bowed us into a large marble hall. A long counter lines the walls and behind it were seated a hundred goblins doing various jobs. There were more doors than it was possible to count around the room and even more goblins were showing people through the doors.

"Good morning," my father said to the goblin that looked like the head goblin. "We've come to withdraw some money from the Navarro, Young and Ellison safes."

"Do you have the right keys, sir?" the goblin asked.

"Yes." My father placed three small golden keys in front of the goblin.

After examining the keys for a few seconds, the goblin called for another goblin. The second goblin took us through a door and into a stone passageway where he showed us into a cart that only just fit the seven of us.

As soon as we had all sat down, the cart hurtled off down a railway track. For a few minutes, it sped along, up and down and around corners, until I felt sick. It finally stopped in front of a small door.

"This is the Ellison vault," announced the goblin.

I decided to stay in the cart to let my stomach settle, while everyone else clambered out and the goblin unlocked the door.

A minute or so later, they returned to the cart.

The trip was repeated until we arrived at the 'Navarro vault'. Once again, I stayed seated. They didn't need me to get money. We then went to the 'Young vault' and then somehow managed to make our way back to the hall without me throwing up.

I was relieved to be back on solid ground, but now we had to go shopping. Clothes shopping was almost my least favourite type of shopping, just after grocery shopping, but we didn't need to get any groceries today. I usually got out of that anyway. Although, today sounded promising. It was an important day and I couldn't afford to miss anything.

Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions was our first stop. This was going to take a while, because our robes had to be fitted and there were four of us. Luckily we were the only ones there.

A woman who I presumed was Madam Malkin walked up to us as we entered her store.

"Hogwarts?"

We all nodded.

"Well then, could you each take a stool and I will tend to you individually."

There were several footstools on the floor around us and four of them slid forward into a line with a flick of her wand. Lou raced to the first stool, with Etta second and Kalyn first. I walked over to the fourth stool and sat on it.

Amazingly, time didn't pass too slowly and I was soon Lou, Etta and Kalyn were sitting outside talking about pets and I was being fitted with my new school robes. Part way through my fitting, three boys walked in and were lined up after me. I couldn't help listening to their conversation about the Hogwarts Houses. They too regarded Hufflepuff as a bad House but, according to them, it was far better than Slytherin.

"My brother was telling me," said the first boy, "that there isn't a single witch or wizard that went bad that wasn't in Slytherin."

The second boy added, "Yes, wasn't You-Know-Who himself a Slytherin?"

"That's right," said the third boy.

The first boy turned to me. "You starting Hogwarts this year too?"

I nodded.

"My name's Ray and this is Dylan and Porter."

"Nice to meet you," I said.

But just at that moment, Madam Malkin interrupted. "You're done, dear."

"See you at Hogwarts," said Porter as I hopped off my stool and headed for the door.

"See you," I waved.

In the meantime, my parents had bought us some basic potions ingredients. We then went to Flourish and Blotts - the book shop.

As I walked through the door, my mouth dropped open. This was pure heaven. Probably thousands of books were piled to the ceiling and they weren't just A5 novels. There were books several feet in size and those just millimeters high. There were books of all colours and materials.

"Let's just hurry up and get this over with," said Lou and my good mood darkened slightly. I walked over to the stand of school books and took a copy of each of the eight thick textbooks on my school list. The other three followed suit and we all payed for them.

Our next stop was Potage's Cauldron Shop where we each bought a size 2 pewter cauldron and then Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment where we each got a set of glass phials, a collapsable brass telescope and a set of brass scales.

That just left our pets.

"Now," said my mother, "both your parents have said that you are allowed to get a pet each," she said to Etta and Kalyn, "and your father and I have decided," she said to Lou and me, "that you, too, may each get a pet." My face broke into a grin. "As long as it's not a toad," she added.

Despite not wanting a toad, I thought that was a bit unfair. I did like toads. I was going to get a cat, though. Etta and Kalyn were getting cats too, but Lou was getting an owl.

We went to Eeylops Owl Emporium first and Lou got a small brown owl who she named Baltimore for some reason or other.

Then we went to the Magical Menagerie. The selection of cats was huge! I looked at the toads for a few minutes, though. Something about them was quite intriguing. But the cats... There must have been over a hundred. Etta immediately picked a pure black cat that she named Mitzi and Kalyn found a neat tabby cat who was soon named Herbert. It took me almost twenty minutes to find _my_ cat. But I settled on a very small and slightly scruffy ginger kitten that I names Antranak. Ant for short.

That just left getting our wands. This was what I was looking forward to the most.

We had to stop ourselves from running down the street to the South Side of Diagon Alley, but once we were there, we slowly stepped through the door of _Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC_. The shop was very old and so, it seemed, was Mr Ollivander. His wide silvery eyes were slightly creepy, but he was the one who was going to get us our most important magical instrument in our lives so it was worth it.

We went in the same order as when we were fitted with our school robes. Lou was up first.

"Which is your wand arm?" Mr Ollivander asked her.

"I'm right handed," she said.

"Hold out your arm," he instructed. He then pulled out a long tape measure and measured the length of her arm, followed by every other length imaginable - from shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, round her head... He then stepped back while the tape measure kept measuring by itself.

"I remember supplying your parents with their first wands like it was just yesterday. Your mother's wand was eleven inches. Yew. With a core of unicorn hair, and it was unbending if I remember correctly, which I always do. And your father," he said while the tape measure measured the distance between Lou's nostrils, "had a wand made of fir with a core of phoenix feather. Ten inches and unyielding." He paused for a few seconds. "That will do." The tape measure fell lifelessly to the floor.

Mr Ollivander retreated into the back of his shop and came back out with a small box out of which he pulled a wand. "Now, try this wand. Silver lime and dragon heartstring. Twelve and a half inches. Surprisingly swishy. Go on then, give it a wave!"

Lou took the wand and waved it around.

Mr Ollivander immediately snatched the wand out of her hand and handed her another one. "Dogwood and unicorn hair, thirteen inches, reasonably supple."

Again, he took it away almost as soon as she had waved it.

As she waved her seventh wand (cypress and unicorn hair, eleven and a half inches, surprisingly swishy), a stream of red and gold sparks shot out of the end. Lou grinned and Mr Ollivander congratulated her.

"Now," he said, "who's next?"

Mr Ollivander repeated his speech and measuring routine on Etta.

Her third wand was maple and unicorn hair, eleven and three quarter inches, slightly springy and that was the one for her.

Kalyn tried four wands before finding her pine and dragon heartstring wand that was thirteen inches long and supple.

It was then my turn.

"A twin!" cried Mr Ollivander. "The second set of twins I've seen this week! Now, family has nothing to do with what wand chooses you, so being a twin is not significant in any way in terms of your wand."

I tried wand after wand. It seemed like my wand wasn't there, but finally, on my ninth try, I got my red and gold sparks. Chestnut and phoenix feather, fourteen and a half inches, unyielding. I felt a pleasant warmth in my fingers as soon as I held it.

That was it for shopping. We had all our supplies for the year ahead, but it was still just over a month before our term started.

It was going to be a long month.


	6. The Journey from Platform 9 & 3 Quarters

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I apologise for abbreviating 'Nine and Three Quarters' to '9 & 3 Quarters'; it wouldn't let me make the title any longer. This is the longest chapter so far, but I have a feeling chapter seven will be just as long, if not longer (maybe it won't be - you'll see). _You have been warned..._

**- Chapter Six -**

**The Journey from Platform Nine and Three Quarters**

Soon after our trip to Diagon Alley, our train tickets that we needed to board the Hogwarts Express arrived by post.

"Platform nine and three quarters?" Lou was excited. "So it actually exists!"

"Of course," I said. I had read a book called Hogwarts: A History and it had explained every aspect of the school in detail, including how to get there. "You have to go through the wall between platforms nine and ten and then you're at platform nine and three quarters."

"Yeah, but why isn't it nine and a half?"

I shrugged. "Nine and three quarters sounds better. Nine and a half is boring."

On the morning of the first of September, I woke up at four in the morning.

Knowing I wouldn't be able to get more sleep, I decided to quadruple-check that I had everything I needed in my trunk. Ant was sleeping on the end of my bed next to Nox. I hoped they wouldn't miss each other too much. They had bonded straight away and Nox seemed to be a lot like a father to Ant.

By the time I had emptied and refilled my trunk _again_, an hour and a half had passed. I got dressed and ate an apple to suffice until eating a proper breakfast when everyone else was up, which wasn't too long.

I spent the next hour and a half reading and playing with Ant. Lou was awake by seven and she woke our parents.

Despite another four hours before we had to be on the train, we managed to fill the time easily, talking about everything to do with Hogwarts.

At ten o'clock, I managed to gently coax Ant into the cage I had bought for him. I don't think he liked it much, but I would let him out on the train if I could.

We left for Kings Cross Station at just quarter past ten, despite the journey only taking fifteen minutes at the most. Our mother's excuse was that she wanted to talk to some other parents and make us some friends before we even left. Neither Lou or I wanted her to make our friends, but we were too excited to complain.

We arrived at the station and, after loading our trunks and pets onto trolleys, headed straight for the ticket barrier between platforms nine and ten. Lou went first, running at the barrier and disappearing right into it. I followed behind her closely and our parents appeared behind me almost immediately after I ran onto the platform.

I grinned, looking up at the archway behind me that held the words _Platform Nine and Three Quarters_. Before us was a scarlet steam engine. The Hogwarts Express.

I looked around for a few seconds, before my mother said, "Look! They're acting like this is their first year. Let's go and talk to them!" She was pointing at two girls who, from their looks, definitely weren't sisters, but didn't seem at all interested. Two women stood next to them deep in conversation - their mothers probably.

As my mother dragged me off to talk to them, Lou spotted Etta and ran off to meet her. That left me with two girls that didn't seem very talkative. Well, until I got to them.

One of the girls was short and had long blond hair and blue eyes. A small pink bow that I could only describe as 'cute' sat at an angle on her purple headband and she was also wearing pink earrings. If she wasn't wearing her robes already, I would guess she would be wearing quite a bit of pink too. Excessive amounts of pink weren't really my thing, but her demeanour seemed friendly enough. The other girl was taller, but also had long blond hair in a plait that ran down her back. There wasn't much I could say about her. She looked bored. The first girl interrupted my thoughts.

"Hi!" she exclaimed. "My name is Leigha and this is Scarlet! What's your name?"

"Um, Loyce," I said.

"Is the 'um' part of your name? I can never tell. Witches and wizards give their children such strange names, don't you think? Both my parents are non-magical - muggles. Is that right? I'm not so good with all your lingo. How do you think I'm doing?" Her words came out quickly and I struggled to follow them.

"Er... you're doing fine. And it's just Loyce."

"Nice to meet you, just Loyce! How do you spell that?" I felt a bit overwhelmed by Leigha. She seemed a bit _too_ friendly.

"L-O-Y-C-E," I spelled.

"Oh, so that's a way that muggles would spell the name Lois. They're pronounced the same where I come from, you see. Gosh, your people are strange. Wow, is this _your_ cat? My, she is _cute_ isn't she?"

"He's a boy and his name's Ant," I said, looking for a complement I could give in return. I spied a cat that was walking around her feet. It was huge compared to Ant and had long white fur. I figured it must be hers - it had a piece of pink ribbon in the place of a collar that was tied in a bow. "Is this your cat?"

"Why yes, he is. His name is Moses. Ant is a strange name for a cat. Did you name him that because he's so tiny? You do know that he's going to grow, don't you?" she laughed.

"Er, it's short for Antranak."

She looked slightly taken aback by that.

"Antranak was a character in a TV show. It's a muggle show, you may have heard of it. It's..."

She cut me off. "Have you met Scarlet? She's my _best_ friend." Scarlet looked as though she'd only just met Leigha and was also put off by her.

I looked for an excuse to terminate the conversation. I tapped my mother on the shoulder. "I think I should probably go and find a free compartment before they're all taken." I said to her.

"If you say so, dear," she replied. "Have a safe journey. You must write to me at least twice a week, understand? You can use your sister's owl."

"I know, Mum," I replied.

"I love you sweetheart."

"I love you too, Mum."

I set off down the platform, hearing Leigha's call in the background. "See you later, Loyce! It was incredible meeting you!"

I managed to find an empty compartment with another fifteen minutes before the train left and barely managed to haul my trunk inside. Once I was sure all the doors were firmly shut, I opened Ant's cage and he shot out of it onto my lap. He examined his new surroundings for a minute or so, before leaving my lap and curling into a ball beside me.

I pulled out my cope of Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them and opened it to my bookmark. The train began moving after a while and I only looked up when I heard the door opening. My hand immediately shot out to stop Ant from running out and then I looked up at my visitor.

She was short and pale with curly black hair and freckles and was dragging her trunk with one hand and holding a cat cage in the other. "Can I join you?" she asked in a small voice.

"Sure," I replied getting up to help her by taking her cat cage. She thanked me and finished pulling her trunk through the door, pushing it into the corner. She sat across from me and took back the cage, avoiding my eyes.

We sat in silence for a few minutes so I decided to start a conversation.

"You can let your cat out if you want."

She fiddled with the lock and an adult ginger cat slowly walked out. It was slow and had a torn ear.

"What's his name? Or her?" I asked.

"His name's Wolsey. I got him secondhand from some family that didn't want him anymore. He's named after a muggle clothing store, I think."

"So he's not named after a... never mind." I decided it was best not to start a conversation that she probably wouldn't get much of a part in.

She looked at me for a few seconds before asking, "What's your cat's name?"

"His name is Antranak, but I call him Ant." There was a silence for a few seconds. "My name's Loyce. What's yours?"

"I'm Louis."

"I've never met a girl with that name. Nice to meet you, Louis."

We shook hands and were saved from another awkward silence by a lady with dimples and a smile sliding back our door.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?"

It was only then that I realised how hungry I was. I hadn't eaten in over five hours.

Both Louis and I got up and examined the contents of the trolley. My mouth dropped open and I shut it quickly before anyone could notice. The trolley was loaded with more lollies and chocolates than I had probably eaten in my whole life. I reached into my pocket and counted my money carefully, before spending almost half of my two galleons, three sickles and eleven knuts. I wasn't going to eat all of it now, but would save some for the next few days. If I could control myself.

I found three new Chocolate Frog cards to add to my collection - Uric the Oddball, Herpo the Foul and Paracelsus.

Soon after that, we heard the compartment door slide open again.

A small round-faced boy came in crying. "Sorry, but have you seen a toad at all?"

Louis shook her head and I said, "Sorry, I haven't"

"I've lost him!" the boy sobbed. "He keeps getting away from me!"

"I'm sure someone will have seen him," I said. "You'll find him."

"I suppose so..." he said and left.

"Can I see your wand?" asked Louis softly after another silence.

"Um, sure." I reached into my pocket and pulled it out. She took it gently.

"I think wands are really cool," she explained. "Do you want to see mine?"

"Sure," I said. I was probably more interested in wands than most other witches and wizards.

"It's rowan with dragon heartstring, twelve and three quarter inches and slightly springy."

"Mine's chestnut and phoenix feather, fourteen and a half inches and unyielding."

"Wow - phoenix feather? That's really rare!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah!" Louis sounded excited. "But it's also the hardest type of wand to control."

"Oh. What about dragon heartstring?"

"It's generally the most powerful, but also the easiest to turn to the Dark arts."

Louis knew a lot about wands. It was good that we'd finally found a topic that we were both interested in. I could learn a lot from this girl.

"What did you say the wood was? Chestnut?" she asked and I nodded.

"Is that significant?"

"Well, if you had dragon heartstring it could mean that you like luxury and if you had unicorn hair it could mean that you like bringing justice, but chestnut wands are generally just attracted to witches and wizards that are skilled at taming magical beasts, good at Herbology and natural fliers," she recited, probably from some book I hadn't come across yet.

"That can't be right - I hate flying." She shrugged. "What about rowan?"

She thought for a few seconds. "Rowan's supposed to be quite a protective wood and can cast strong defensive charms. It's good at duels but no Dark witch or wizard on record has ever had a rowan wand. It likes witches and wizards that are clear-headed and pure-hearted."

"Cool," I said.

As I spoke, the compartment door was forced open and the boy who had lost his toad was back, but was now with a girl. She had a large amount of bushy brown hair and seemed like the kind of person that was very in control of situations, especially by the way she talked.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said in a bossy voice.

"We already told him," I said, "we haven't seen it."

The girl sighed and left, closing the door again. A few seconds later, she came back in.

"You two should get changed into your robes. I expect we'll be arriving soon." She left again.

Louis raised an eyebrow at me and I shrugged. It would be nice if I didn't end up in the same house as that girl. I didn't particularly want to share a dormitory with someone so bossy for the next seven years of my life.

We both pulled our robes out of our trunks and I asked, "So, what house do you think you'll be in?"

"Hufflepuff," she replied. "I'm not brave or smart, so I can't be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. And I'd never be in Slytherin. Can you imagine that? You-Know-Who was in Slytherin." She shuddered. "What about you?"

"I think I might be in Ravenclaw," I said, trying not to sound too 'I'm so smart'.

"Would you rather be in Hufflepuff or Slytherin?"

"I'm not sure," I replied. "I don't think I'm much of a Hufflepuff, but no way would I want to be in Slytherin!"

We both had our school robes on by then.

"If you're not in Ravenclaw, which house do you think you'll be in?"

"I don't know. Maybe Gryffindor. That would be good - Dumbledore was in Gryffindor. I don't know."

A voice suddenly echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

"I suppose I'll find out soon, then," I said, both nervous and excited. "Time to get back in here, Ant," I said to the little kitten, pushing him towards the cage. Louis and I managed to get our cats in their cages, but by the time we did the train was slowing down.

I quickly shoved the rest of my sweets into my trunk and made sure none of my possessions were lying around, before bidding Ant a goodbye and following Louis off the train.

We turned to a voice that was calling us: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" The words were coming from a huge man - probably the gamekeeper that Lou had talked about. "All right there, Harry?" he said to a black haired boy with glasses who was standing near him. "C'mon follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Louis and I followed the man down a steep and narrow path.

"Yeh'll get your firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," I barely heard the man say. There must have been about fifty of us and Louis and I were close to the back. "Jus' round this bend here," he continued.

There was a loud gasp from all members of our group, us included. We were standing on the edge of a huge black coloured lake. An equally huge castle stood atop a high mountain on the other side of the lake. There was a fleet of boats in the lake in front of us.

"No more'n four to a boat!" called the man. By the time we got to the boats, there was only one left with two free places to we clambered in with a boy and a girl who introduced themselves as Terry and Lisa. "Everybody in? Right then - FORWARD!"

The boats began moving across the lake by themselves. It was the smoothest boat trip I had ever been on as we sailed closer and closer to the cliff on which the castle stood.

"Heads down!" yelled the man. We all bent our heads and we were carried through a curtain of ivy and into the cliff. The boats took us through a dark tunnel that lead to a an underground harbour. We climbed out of our boats.

The man was checking the boats to make sure we had left nothing behind. "Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" he asked Neville.

"Trevor!" cried Neville and ran forward, taking the toad in his hands.

The fifty or so of us followed the man through an upwards sloping passage until we reached a flight of stone steps. At the top of the steps was a huge wooden door.

"Everyone here?" he asked. "You there, still got yer toad?"

Neville nodded and the man knocked thrice on the door of the castle.


	7. The Sorting Hat

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter uses large chunks of text taken from the book and from Pottermore. I think from now on there will be a lot of things that are the same because it's set in exactly the same place at the same time. It's also a very long chapter.

**- Chapter 7 -**

**The Sorting Hat**

The door was opened by a tall witch wearing emerald green robes. She looked extremely stern.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said the man. McGonagall... that was the name of the head of Gryffindor.

"Thank you Hagrid. I will take them from here." She opened a door that led to the huge entrance hall. It was so big, it probably could have fit most average muggle houses inside it. The ceiling was impossibly high and the stone walls were lined with flaming torches. An elegant marble staircase led to other floors and I could hear hundreds of muffled voices from a door to the right. I suddenly felt incredibly nervous. I had read about the Sorting Ceremony. Sitting by yourself in front of the whole school while the Sorting Hat decided your House that would be your home and family for the majority of your next seven years.

Professor McGonagall led us into a tiny room where we were all standing far too close to each other.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said the Professor. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common-room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly."

As soon as she left the room, a soft chatter broke out throughout the room.

"You look a bit pale, Loyce," said Louis. She seemed fine. Her mind was settled on Hufflepuff, so she wasn't worried. I didn't know why I was so nervous. I would get into the house that I best suited. But I was becoming increasingly unsure about Ravenclaw. Whatever happened, everything would work out for the best. That's what I was telling myself.

Looking around, everyone else looked nervous too. Louis and I didn't talk much.

The whole room jumped and several people screamed when about twenty figures - ghosts - glided into the room. Through the wall. They were having their own conversation, an argument it sounded like, until one of them noticed us.

"I say," he said, "what are you all doing here?"

When nobody answered, a ghost that another had called the 'Friar' spoke. "New students! About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

A few people nodded, but no one talked.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" he said. "My old house, you know."

I saw Professor McGonagall slip back into the room, relatively unnoticed. "Move along now," she said sharply. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start. Now, form a line and follow me."

Somehow, we managed to arrange ourselves into a line. Louis was behind me and I was behind a boy with red hair. Professor McGonagall led us back into the entrance hall and through the large double doors into the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was lit by candlelight, but the thousands of candles were floating high in the room. There were four long tables, one for each house, and each table was covered in hundreds of gold plates and goblets, all of which were empty.

We were led to the top of the hall where there was a fifth long table where the teachers sat. We were lined up in front of this table, facing the rest of the hall. Every student (and ghost, it seemed) was staring at us.

Professor McGonagall placed a small stool in front of us and on top of the stool she place a very old and patched hat.

There was silence for a few seconds, before the hat burst into song.

_"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

The hat bowed to the four tables, as the whole school applauded and Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name," she announced, "you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." And the sorting began.

"Abbott, Hannah!" Hannah looked nervous and I'm certain I would have been too if I had been first.

"I thought I was going to be first because my last name starts with 'A'," Louis hissed in my ear.

By the time she had said this, the hat had reached its verdict. "HUFFLEPUFF!" it shouted. The table on the far right applauded and Hannah, looking relieved it was over, went and sat in a free seat near the end of the table closest to us.

"Alexander, Louis!" Louis stepped forward and sat on the stool with barely any hesitation and the hat was placed on her head. About two and a half minutes passed, before the hat finally shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!" Louis shot me a quick look that said, 'I told you,' and she ran off to sit next to Hannah.

'Bones, Susan' was also sorted into Hufflepuff, but then 'Boot, Terry' was sorted into Ravenclaw and the second table from the left applauded. 'Brocklehurst, Mandy' then went to Ravenclaw and 'Brown, Lavender' was the first Gryffindor. From the applause, I deduced that the table on the far left was Gryffindor. That left the table second from the right as Slytherin, which became evident with the sorting of 'Bulstrode, Millicent'. The next two boys ('Corner, Michael' and 'Cornfoot, Stephen') were sorted into Ravenclaw and 'Crabbe, Vincent' was sorted into Slytherin.

'Daugherty, Dylan', one of the three boys I had met in Madam Malkin's, was sorted into Hufflepuff. That was ironic, considering that it was him who had said that he didn't want to be in Hufflepuff. Oh well, at least, for his sake, he wasn't in Slytherin.

'Davis, Tracey' was then put in Slytherin. 'Deaton, D'Arcy', half ran, half skipped to the stool and moved with the same gait to her Ravenclaw table. 'Dunbar, Fay' then became the second Gryffindor.

Next up was 'Durham, Ray' who was another of the boys I had met in Madam Malkin's. He too was sorted into Hufflepuff.

Then Kalyn was called. She had been certain she would be in Gryffindor, but the hat cried, "HUFFLEPUFF!" almost immediately. She looked slightly dismayed as she headed off to her table.

I was getting nervous now. As the moment of my sorting drew ever closer, my brain kept going through things that could go wrong. Maybe the hat would stop working as it touched my head. Maybe it would announce that there was a mistake and I wasn't actually a witch. Maybe it just wouldn't say anything at all.

'Entwhistle, Kevin' was sorted into Ravenclaw. Wow, Ravenclaw was getting a lot of new members. So was Hufflepuff. That made me feel slightly less nervous. If I did end up as a Hufflepuff, which I didn't think I would, there would be a lot of us. I would also be with Louis, my new friend, and there wouldn't be much pressure. I was still set on Ravenclaw, though.

'Finch-Fletchley, Justin' was the seventh Hufflepuff and 'Finnigan, Seamus' the next Gryffindor. The came a Ravenclaw ('Goldstein, Anthony') and a Slytherin ('Goyle, Gregory').

'Granger, Hermione', the bossy girl who had helped Neville look for his toad, was proclaimed a Gryffindor after what was probably the longest amount of time so far. I wondered what took the hat so long to make some of its decisions, when it was so quick with others. And then I wondered how it worked out if you were smart, brave, friendly or cunning.

'Greengrass, Daphne' was then put in Slytherin and 'Hopkins, Wayne' in Hufflepuff. Then was 'James, Scarlet', the girl that I had met with Leigha. She was placed in Slytherin and so was a boy called 'Jenkins, Devin'. 'Jennings, Danilo' was put in Ravenclaw, much to his surprise. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw both gained their ninth members with 'Jones, Megan' and 'Li, Sue', respectively. Then 'Leach, Maura' became the tenth Ravenclaw.

'Longbottom, Neville', the boy who had lost his toad, tripped over on his way to the stool. The hat took almost five minutes to decide his house and he was eventually placed in Gryffindor, to everyone's surprise. He ran off towards the table still wearing the hat and had to run back to give it to 'MacDougal, Morag' who was placed in Ravenclaw.

They were up to 'M'. I was more nervous than I thought possible by now. There couldn't me more than a few people before me now. The good thing, though, about being alphabetically after Lou was that she would always be before me. At least, then, I would have time to prepare, knowing that I would be next.

'Macmillan, Ernie' joined Hufflepuff next. Then was a boy names 'Malfoy, Draco'. Just as either Hermione's or Neville's sorting had taken the longest so far, his was by far the shortest. The hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

'Moon, Lily' (Gryffindor) was next and then 'Navarro, Louvenia'.

Lou stepped forward and took a seat on the stool. After mere seconds, the hat decided on Slytherin. That was something I definitely had not expected. Lou in Slytherin? She had definitely seemed like a Gryffindor to me. I'd have time to think about that later, though, because, for now, it was my turn.

"Navarro, Loyce," I heard Professor McGonagall read out. I had always hated being in front of crowds, so walking out in front of the whole school by myself was terrifying. I sat on the stool and felt the hat fall down over my head. I chewed my bottom lip and gave a start when I heard a small voice inside my head.

"Hmm," it said. I wonder if it could hear my thoughts. Maybe it might be possible to have some sort of conversation. Never in my life had I expected to have a conversation with a hat.

"Hi," I tried to think.

The hat gave what sounded like a laugh. "Hello Miss Navarro." Then it seemed to decide to get down to business. "Where to put you... Difficult. You've definitely a ready mind. You would do well in Ravenclaw. But there is something else. I see a potential elsewhere." I was confused. Where else could it put me? Did it see bravery in me? "Yes, I think your potential is greater than your wit. You can be ready to learn and not be in Ravenclaw." What was it talking about? If I was smart then couldn't I just be in Ravenclaw? The hat was silent for a few seconds. "I know, SLYTHERIN!" It shouted the last word to the school and I pulled the hat off.

I began the walk to the Slytherin table, knowing there was a look of pure shock on my face, but unable to get rid of it. They were cheering. Cheering for me. Slytherin. I managed to smile and made it to the table. One of the Slytherin prefects was there to shake my hand and welcome me.

"Gemma Farley," she said. "Welcome to Slytherin!" I shook her hand and went to sit down.

There was, if I remembered all their names correctly, Millicent, Vincent, Draco, Gregory, Tracey, Daphne, Scarlet and Lou, of course, seated on one side of the table and Devin sat on the other side. Lou's side was full so I sat next to Devin. By the time I was settled properly, 'Nott, Theodore' and 'Parkinson, Pansy' had sat down next to me and 'Patil, Padma' had joined Ravenclaw.

'Patil, Parvati', who I presumed was Padma's twin (probably the other set of twins that Mr Ollivander had talked about) and then 'Perks, Sally-Anne' were sorted in Gryffindor.

Professor McGonagall read out the next name. "Potter, Harry."

The hall went completely silent as everyone turned to look at the boy. I heard people all over the hall begin whispering to one another. _The_ Harry Potter? I should have expected this - he was the same age as me, so he should be here. But it was still a shock.

The boy was small and had jet black hair and glasses. I could just make out what was probably his lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. He sat on the stool and the hat was placed over his eyes. Everyone was silent now.

I'm sure everyone in the hall was silently hoping he was in _their_ house. But surely he wouldn't be in Slytherin. You-Know-Who had been in Slytherin. He would be in Gryffindor.

Sure enough, after what seemed like an eternity, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Gryffindor exploded into cheers, louder than any before. So this was Harry Potter. Just as nervous as the rest of us. Just a normal boy.

'Rivers, Oliver' and 'Runcorn, Leanne' then joined Hufflepuff, 'Smith, Zacharias' joined Ravenclaw and 'Spinks, Kellah' and 'Thomas, Dean' joined Gryffindor.

Then 'Thornton, Leigha', still wearing her pink bow, was sorted into Hufflepuff. I was glad I would be sharing a dormitory with her. On that topic, though, I wasn't sure I wanted to share a dormitory with some of the other Slytherin girls. There were already seven of us!

The next two were 'Turpin, Lisa' and 'Vane, Emma' and they were both sorted into Ravenclaw. There were only five left now. 'Watson, Ozella' was the eighth girl to join Slytherin. The red-haired boy I had been standing behind in the line was 'Weasley, Ronald' and joined Gryffindor.

'York, Porter' was the third boy I had met in Madam Malkin's and he joined his two friends in Hufflepuff. The Etta, another certain Gryffindor, joined Slytherin. She seemed happy to be with Lou, but I knew it would be annoying having them together in the same dorm as me. Nine people was a lot.

Finally, 'Zabini, Blaise' became the final Slytherin and the sorting was over.

Professor McGonagall rolled the scroll back up, picked up the stool and the hat and walked out of the hall.

Albus Dumbledore, principal of Hogwarts stood up at the front of the hall. He spread his arms in a welcoming manner and smiles. "Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!" he said warmly. "Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

He sat back in his chair behind the table and everybody applauded and cheered. I was confused, but knew I would get used to it. Next year I would cheer just as loud as everyone else.

Without warning, the hundreds of dishes that sat along the tables were suddenly filled with food. I had never complained about the food I had at home, it was good food, but this was enough to make me never want to go back. Forget the sweets off the trolley on the Hogwarts Express, this was a banquet! Every kind of roast and chops, bacon, potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, peas and carrots, varies types of gravy and so many other things that I couldn't even count them. And then were some mint humbugs. I grabbed some of everything and began eating, without stopping to talk to my new housemates. They seemed to feel the same about the food.

It was by far the best meal I had ever eaten in my entire life. By the end of it, I was so full that I felt there was no way I could ever eat anything ever again, but I knew that would pass.

And it did pass, as soon as the dinner disappeared and turned into dessert. Ice cream in every flavour, pies, tarts, chocolate éclairs, strawberries, jam doughnuts, jelly and, like with the main course, the list could have gone on for a lot longer. I helped myself to some ice cream and decided to make some new friends.

One of the main things the Slytherins found important was blood status. There were no muggle borns in the group of us and only two half-bloods. Everyone else was pure-blooded.

I also discovered that none of the others were very talkative, except perhaps Draco, who seemed to want to be in charge. Then Devin followed behind him for talkativeness, but he had the same authority about him.

Vincent and Greg were Draco's right- and left-side men, so he had some backup. He seemed like quite a leader and, no doubt, would create his own group within Slytherin.

As for the other two boys, Blaise seemed like he would join Draco's group if it came to exist, while Theodore seemed like an individual.

As for the girls, Lou and Etta were deep in their own conversation and Scarlet, Ozella and Millicent hadn't said much, only when Draco asked about their blood status. Tracey, like Theodore, seemed to be mildly interested, but keeping to herself, while Pansy and Daphne were hanging onto every word Draco said.

"You didn't expect to be in Slytherin," I heard Devin say from beside me.

I turned to him. "No, I didn't. How do you..."

"I noticed your expression. I didn't expect to be in Slytherin either. Thought I would be a Ravenclaw."

"Me too."

It turned out Devin and I had a huge amount in common. We talked until the desserts disappeared and the hall fell silent as Professor Dumbledore stood.

"Ahem - just a few more words now we are all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

I thought I saw his eyes flicker towards the Gryffindor table, but was sure it must have been a trick of the light. Gryffindors followed the rules.

"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic is to be used between classes in the corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house should contact Madam Hooch.

"And finally, I must tell you all that this year, the third floor corridor on the right-hand side us out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Several people around the hall laughed and I looked at Devin who shrugged.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!"

I noticed that all the teachers at the head table were smiling.

Professor Dumbledore flicked his wand and a gold ribbon snaked out of it, forming words.

"Everyone pick their favourite tune and off we go!" cried Dumbledore.

This was going to be a disaster. I braced myself and attempted the words.

_"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_

_Teach us something please,_

_Whether we be old and bald_

_Or young with scabby knees,_

_Our heads could do with filling_

_With some interesting stuff,_

_For now they're bare and full of air,_

_Dead flies and buts of fluff,_

_So teach us things worth knowing,_

_Bring back what we've forgot,_

_Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_

_And learn until our brains all rot."_

It was the strangest school song I had ever heard, but it suited Hogwarts, I thought. We all finished at different times and, at the end, we were left with two Gryffindor boys singing to a sad, funeral-like tune. Dumbledore conducted their last lines with his wand and we all applauded when they had finished, the headmaster included.

"Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

The hall was filled with the scraping of seats on the floor as everyone in the hall stood up at once.

I could hear the voice of the prefect Gemma Farley shouting over the noise. "Slytherin first years stay in the hall!" The fifteen of us somehow managed to all get the message and once most of the rest of the school was out of the hall, she began talking to us, while we followed her out of the hall.

"Congratulations on making Slytherin house! Now, I'm going to give you some basic information on our house to get you started and you can work out the rest by yourself. Our emblem is the serpent which is the wisest of creatures and our colours are emerald green and silver.

"You may have heard that Slytherin house is all into the Dark Arts and we'll only talk to you if your great-grandfather was a famous wizard, but that's all rubbish. You don't want to believe everything you hear from competing houses. We have produced our fair share of Dark wizards, but so have the other three houses, and we have traditionally tended to take students who come from long lines of witches and wizards, but nowadays you'll find plenty of people in Slytherin who have at least one muggle parent.

"Here's a little-known fact that the other three houses don't bring up much: Merlin was a Slytherin. Yes, Merlin himself, the most famous wizard in history! He learned all he knew in this very house! Do you want to follow in the footsteps of Merlin? Or would you rather sit at the old desk of that illustrious ex-Hufflepuff, Eglantine Puffett, inventor of the Self-Soaping Dishcloth? I didn't think so.

"We are by far the coolest and edgiest house in this school, but we care about the honour and traditions of Slytherin.

"We also get respect from our fellow students. Yes, some of that respect might be tinged with fear, but it can be fun having a reputation for walking on the wild side. Chuck out a few hints that you've got access to a whole library of curses, and see whether anyone feels like nicking your pencil case.

"But we're not bad people. We're like the snake: sleek, powerful and frequently misunderstood.

"We look after our own - which is more than you can say for Ravenclaw." Devin and I exchanged an amused look. For some reason, I no longer wanted to be in Ravenclaw. It had been less than two hours and I already felt completely at home in Slytherin - my new house and family. "Ravenclaws are famous for clambering over each other to get good marks. But as far as we're concerned, once you've become a snake, you're one of ours - one of the elite.

"Salazar Slytherin looked for the 'seeds of greatness' in his students. You've been chosen for this house because you have the potential to be great. You've all been put in here for a reason, and don't you forget it.

"And talking about people who aren't destined for greatness, I haven't mentioned the Gryffindors. A lot of people say that Slytherins and Gryffindors represents two sides of the same coin, but personally, I think Gryffindors are just wannabe Slytherins. They like beating us only slightly less than we like beating them.

"Our house ghost is the Bloody Baron. If you get on the right side of him, he'll sometimes agree to frighten people for you. Just don't ask him how he got bloodstained; he doesn't like it."

By then we had reached a dead-end and had gone down so many flights of stairs that we had to be at the bottom of the school.

"To get into our common room, you must speak a password to this wall and you will be let in. The password changes every fortnight, so keep an eye on the noticeboard. This fortnight's password is 'Ambition'."

The wall in front of us immediately transformed into an archway, much like that of the entrance to Diagon Alley but smaller, and she led us through, letting us look around for a while.

The rest of the house had already gone to their dormitories, I was sure, because the room was deserted.

The room looked ancient, but it was beautiful. There were green lamps spread around the room and, if I wasn't mistaken, the room was underwater, giving us a view of underwater out the windows. The sofas and chairs around the room were black and dark green and there were dark wooden cupboards every so often. The room was decorated with skulls and it had a cold atmosphere, but I didn't like heat anyway. I much preferred being in the cold. There was a grand crackling log fire on one side of the room and above it was an image of the Slytherin crest carved in stone.

"Listen up, first years, this is important," Gemma continued. "No non-Slytherin has entered the common room for more than seven centuries. Never bring anyone from another house inside or tell them our password.

"I think that's all for now. The dormitories are through these doors; girls on the left and boys on the right.

"Tomorrow morning you will receive your timetables at breakfast in the Great Hall. Goodnight."

And with that, she left us to find our dormitories.

For some reason, there were nine beds - exactly the right number - in the room already and at the end of each bed was a trunk with or without a cage on top of it. We all ran forward to find which was our bed and pulled on our pyjamas.

I let Ant out of his cage and looked around. The beds were extremely comfortable four-posters and had green silk hangings around the sides. The bedspreads were embroidered with silver thread and there were medieval-style tapestries around the room, each depicting a famous Slytherin. Silver lanterns hung from the ceiling and I could hear the water of the lake lapping against the windows. There were six pets between us - five cats and an owl. Etta had her black cat called Mitzi, Scarlet had a ginger cat called Fern, Ozella also had a black cat called Easter and Millicent had a black cat called Shadow. Then, of course there was Lou's brown owl, Baltimore.

I fell asleep almost as soon as my head hit my pillow and slept better than I had slept in a long time.


	8. The Potions Master

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So here it is, _finally!_ Sorry for the massive delay! I've been planning and planning and planning! I'll try and update this more frequently, or else I may never finish! Also, I've come up with something to get you readers involved. You can actually be in the next few books of Loyce Navarro as students at Hogwarts. If you want to be in it, just leave a review with your Pottermore username, a first and last name for your character and whether they are male or female **and also the name of their pet** (the pet you have on Pottermore). Please note that you must be sorted on Pottermore if you want me to include your character and if I get a lot of requests (yeah, like that's every gonna happen...) then I won't be able to include them all. And I actually used the word 'thus' in this. Don't mind me. It's just part of my vocabulary.

**- Chapter Eight -**

**The Potions Master**

The next morning the whole school once again assembled in the Great Hall for breakfast.

Part of the way through the meal, Professor Snape - the potions master and head of Slytherin - walked along the table, handing each of us our timetables for the year. I read through the subjects with interest.

Classes began at 8:30am each weekday morning. Each class was an hour and a half. We had one class and then a half-hour break, another two classes with a five minute break between, another half hour break and, finally, two more classes with a five minute break between, finishing the day at 5:10pm, except on Fridays when we finished after the first three classes. We had another two classes on Saturdays, the first at 10:15am and the second at 12:30pm. Finally, we had astronomy once a week on Thursdays at midnight.

The timetable stood thus:

Monday

08.30 - Defence Against the Dark Arts (w/ Hufflepuff)

10:00 - Break

10:30 - Charms (w/ Ravenclaw)

12:05 - Charms (w/ Ravenclaw)

13:35 - Break

14:05 - Potions (w/ Gryffindor)

15:40 - Potions (w/ Gryffindor)

Tuesday

08.30 - Transfiguration (w/ Hufflepuff)

10:00 - Break

10:30 - History of Magic (w/ Hufflepuff)

12:05 - History of Magic (w/ Hufflepuff)

13:35 - Break

14:05 - Defence Against the Dark Arts (w/ Hufflepuff)

15:40 - Defence Against the Dark Arts (w/ Hufflepuff)

Wednesday

08.30 - Charms (w/ Ravenclaw)

10:00 - Break

10:30 - Magical Theory (w/ Ravenclaw)

12:05 - Transfiguration (w/ Hufflepuff)

13:35 - Break

14:05 - Herbology (w/ Ravenclaw)

15:40 - Herbology (w/ Ravenclaw)

Thursday

00:00 - Astronomy (w/ Ravenclaw)

01:30 - Sleep/Break

08.30 - Herbology (w/ Ravenclaw)

10:00 - Break

10:30 - Defence Against the Dark Arts (w/ Hufflepuff)

12:05 - Charms (w/ Ravenclaw)

13:35 - Break

14:05 - Magical Theory (w/ Ravenclaw)

15:40 - Transfiguration (w/ Hufflepuff)

Friday

08.30 - Transfiguration (w/ Hufflepuff)

10:00 - Break

10:30 - Potions (w/ Gryffindor)

12:05 - Potions (w/ Gryffindor)

13:35 - Break

Saturday

10:15 - History of Magic (w/ Hufflepuff)

11:45 - Break

12:30 - Magical Theory (w/ Ravenclaw)

We only had four lessons with the Gryffindors, which most of us Slytherins seemed a little dismayed about. They were all hanging out to see the famous Harry Potter and his scar. To be perfectly honest, I couldn't have cared less. We had eleven lessons each with the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, so at least I would get to see Louis in a fair few classes and in the other lessons, Devin would get to spend time with Danilo, who he had met on the train and become instant friends with.

We had been given our first afternoon off, and so by our first break on Friday, we Slytherins had been through every lesson other than potions.

As our first class of the year, Defence Against the Dark Arts had been a bit of an anti-climatic introduction to lessons at Hogwarts. Professor Quirrell's classroom had smelled of garlic and he seemed jumpy and began stuttering whenever we got onto even a mildly dangerous topic.

Professor Flitwick was the Charms teacher and was tiny. He was apparently the head of Ravenclaw, but showed none of the snobbiness that Gemma Farley had implied belonged to the Ravenclaws. He seemed kind and Charms was already my favourite subject, even though we hadn't started learning any actual charms yet.

Transfiguration was easily my second-favourite subject and was taught by the stern Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor. At least she, like Professor Flitwick, didn't favour her house. Apparently Professor Snape was the only teacher that did, though, so that was a bonus of being a Slytherin. Professor McGonagall had given us a talk at the beginning of the lesson - "Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." To lighten the mood, she turned her desk into a pig and back. We had already been given the task of attempting to turn a match into a needle and no one had succeeded. Devin and I had focussed our attention on one match between us and had managed to sharpen the point a little. A very small little, but still. Apparently Hermione Granger had been able to do it.

History of Magic and Magical Theory were both as boring as they sounded. Truthfully, I had expected to enjoy History of Magic because I had always enjoyed history, but not so much at Hogwarts. I'd do pretty well in the exams, though, considering I was the only one paying attention to Professor Binns in class. Professor Binns was the only teacher in the school who was a ghost. The whole lesson was a lecture and double History was triply boring. I had never liked taking notes and three hours of it wasn't too fun.

Herbology was taught by Professor Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff. Herbology probably came in third, as far as favourite subject went.

Astronomy would have ranked higher if we didn't have to get up in the middle of the night, but I would probably eventually get used to it. Hopefully. The week so far had been exhausting and I was really hanging out for Sunday so that I could sleep in.

Louis and I had decided to meet in the library later and Devin was going to join us with Dan but, meanwhile, I had double potions with the Gryffindors to attend to.

I took a seat between Devin and Scarlet, who had been following me around because she didn't seem to have made any friends by herself. I was always relieved when we had classes with Hufflepuff because Scarlet would be stolen from me by Leigha and was replaced with Louis. Most of the Slytherins didn't like the Hufflepuffs, but I seemed to be making friends with people from every house, except Gryffindor but that was because I hadn't seem many of them around. Dan and D'Arcy Deaton from Ravenclaw were already good friends of mine and I had never been that good at making friends.

Looking around, it seemed unlikely that I would add many Gryffindors to my friendships. Both houses in the potions classroom seemed to be giving each other a wide berth and had taken opposite sides of the dungeon.

Being a dungeon, us Slytherins were used to the cool, dark atmosphere of the underground classroom, but the Gryffindors looked uncomfortable. That was one of the things

I already liked the most about being a Slytherin. The colder-than-average temperature and green-blue light suited my tastes.

While taking the class role, when Professor Snape paused at Harry Potter's name.

"Ah, yes. Harry Potter," he read. "Our new - _celebrity_." He emphasised the word 'celebrity' and several Slytherins laughed, including Draco, Vincent and Gregory who were sat in the row immediately in front of Devin, Scarlet and me.

After finishing the role, the Professor began a lecture at barely more than a whisper that I could most compare to the one Professor McGonagall had given us, but not quite the same...

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making. As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

The class was silent for a while. I thought about what he had said - not the bit about us potentially being dunderheads, but the beauty of potion making. I could see what he might mean. I had never expected a man like him to be so poetic. It was... strange. I wanted to start making potions straight away. Part of me wanted to prove to him that at least I wasn't a 'dunderhead' and the rest just wanted to make the potions for the sake of making them.

"Potter!" Professor Snape said so suddenly that several people jumped. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

'The Draught of Living Death,' I immediately answered in my mind. I had read 'Magical Drafts and Potions' cover to cover already and had already memorised a few of the simpler brews.

Hermione Granger's hand shot into the air and Harry said in a small voice, "I don't know, sir."

Professor Snape tutted. "Fame clearly isn't everything," he smirked. "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

'In the stomach of a goat,' I remembered and slouched in my chair, resting my head on my arms that were folded over my desk. Draco, Vincent and Gregory were laughing again.

"I don't know, sir," Harry repeated and I sighed.

Professor Snape gave a small shake of his head. "Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?"

Harry was doing a good job of not reacting to the Professor's comments, but he'd been right. I would have thought that we would be expected to have even a basic knowledge of potions and ingredients before beginning classes. We'd had long enough to prepare.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

'They are the same,' my mental voice sighed and I smiled.

"I don't know. I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"

Professor Snape didn't seem impressed. "Sit down," he snapped at Hermione who had, by now, risen out of her seat in an attempt to get noticed. Seeing that he was probably about to give us a small lecture, I grabbed a piece of parchment, ready to write down anything he would expect us to know later. "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite." He paused. "Well? Why aren't you all copying that down? And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."

I smirked and put down my quill, waiting for everyone to finish writing.

"Now," said Professor Snape. "I would like you to divide into pairs. There are an odd number of you, so one person will have to work by his or herself. That is up to you. I would like you to brew a potion that will cure boils."

It became clear that the Professor favoured Draco by the way that he criticised everyone else's potions and told us to follow Draco's example, but he was soon interrupted by a loud hissing as Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnigan's potion melted their cauldron and seeped across the stone floor, filling the air with acid green smoke.

I climbed onto my stool as boils began to appear all over Neville who had been soaked by his potion.

"Idiot boy!" Professor Snape snarled as he cleared the potion with a wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" He looked at Seamus. "Take him to the hospital wing." Next, he turned to Harry and Ronald Weasley who had been working beside the pair. "You - Potter - why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."

Harry looked as though he was about to argue about the unfairness of this deduction, but Ronald stopped him. It wasn't too unreasonable, I thought. Devin and I had spent the whole hour or two giving Scarlet tips, as she had ended up by herself.

The next hour went quickly, Devin and me among the few pairs who managed to get the potion right. Professor Snape almost smiled at us, which was an achievement. It was best to stay on his good side, I had decided. That meant doing my best and keeping my head down.

We met Louis and Dan in the library. They gave us a run-down of their last two lessons.

"How was double potions?" Dan asked and Louis shuddered.

"I don't like Snape," she replied to my silent question.

I shrugged.

"Potions was... interesting," Devin replied. "Professor Snape doesn't seem to like Harry Potter much. He did make himself very easy to pick on, though."

I laughed. "Interesting is definitely a good word for it." Devin nodded and we told the story of Neville's potions.

Louis shook her head. "He seems a little hopeless. I've no idea why he's in Gryffindor."

"Yeah," Dan agreed. "And speaking of people being in the wrong Houses, it really sounds like you two should be in Ravenclaw!"

We talked about Houses for a while longer and then other people in our classes and the classes themselves.

Before we knew it, it was time for dinner and the four of us made our way to the Great Hall.

For someone who was completely hopeless at directions, I was surprised how quickly I was learning my way around the castle.

"See you tomorrow!" Dan called at the door and the four of us waved goodbye to each other, smiled firm on our faces.

Already, Hogwarts had become a second home.


	9. The Midnight Duel

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Ok, what's happening in the chapters now is starting to have absolutely nothing to do with the title, but I'm gonna stick with the original chapter titles, even when I get to things like 'The Cave' in book 6... I know I haven't written anything in ages, but I promise I'll _try_ to write more often! I think I've done as much planning as I can for the rest of this book (I bet something else will come up...). If you have any ideas, though, I'll take things into consideration if I like the idea. At the moment I basically have nothing to write about for chapter 15, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Maybe some character development, or just day-to-day life. Keep reviewing - I love reading feedback! Try to keep it constructive, but other than that, everything's appreciated!

**- Chapter Nine -**

**The Midnight Duel**

It was almost two weeks into term and the daily routine was already feeling completely normal.

Everyone was generally in the common room by 7:30 and the room tended to be divided into year groups. No one really mingled with anyone from other grades and even the fifteen of us were separated into exclusive cliques.

There was Draco's group that also included Vincent and Gregory, as well as various hangers-on who probably just wanted to bask in Draco's popularity, such as Blaise, Millicent and Pansy.

Pansy also seemed to have a group of followers, including Millicent, as well as Daphne, Tracey, Lou and Etta, while Scarlet had finally paired up with Ozella and they usually spent their time sitting in silence.

Theo didn't seem to need to join a group and mostly kept to himself, occasionally talking to Devin and me. The two of us were the final group amongst the Slytherin first years. I was surprised Devin didn't have a 'following' like Draco, but he didn't seem to want one and I was glad. We were happy with just the two of us.

It was early in the second week that a notice was pinned on the common room addressed to the first years. Slytherin had been paired with the Gryffindors for flying lessons that began on the following Thursday afternoon at 3:30. The timetable had been changed around a bit to fit the lessons in and the classes began fifteen minutes earlier than usual. Flying went for an hour and we still had Magical Theory and Transfiguration afterwards.

It seemed that all of us had ridden brooms before and were relatively experienced. I was the only one who didn't seem too keen on the idea of flying, though, but I'd give it a go. I wasn't a bad flyer, just not an enthusiastic one.

Come Thursday afternoon, I bade goodbye to Dan and D'Arcy and made my way from the Charms classroom to the grounds of the castle.

The Slytherins were there before the Gryffindors and the yellow-eyed Madam Hooch arrived shortly after them.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked immediately. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

The twenty-seven of us scrambled to each stand beside the most reasonable-looking of the school brooms. I had my own broom at home, but only a relatively cheap one because I wasn't into flying. Even my broom looked in better condition than these. It was only to be expected, I supposed. These _were_ school brooms.

Meanwhile, Madam Hooch was already giving us instructions.

"Stick out your right hand over your broom and say, 'Up!'" she instructed and a chorus of 'UP!'s erupted.

There were only a few people whose brooms jumped into their hands on the first, 'Up!', Devin and Harry's included.

Once everyone finally had their brooms in hand, we were shown how to mount and grip them properly.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard. Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly," we were instructed. "On my whistle - three - two -"

Before Madam Hooch could finish the countdown, Neville kicked off and rose straight up into the air.

"Come back, boy!" Madam Hooch called as he kept ascending until he was almost ten meters off the ground. With a gasp, Neville slipped off the side of the broom and fell, hitting the ground with a thud and a crack.

I looked up at his broomstick which was still rising and now heading towards the forbidden forest and back to Neville who was lying face-down.

After examining Neville for a few seconds, Madam Hooch reached her diagnosis. "Broken wrist," she muttered. "Come on, boy - it's all right, up you get." She helped the shaking boy to his feet and turned back to us. "None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing!" she ordered. "You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'. Come on dear."

I dropped my broom to the ground as our instructor led Neville away and turned to Devin.

"Of course, it had to be him," he sighed as Draco started laughing.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?" he said.

"Here we go," I murmured so that only Devin could hear. He gave a small reigned shake of his head as several of Draco's followers joined in.

"Shut up, Malfoy," Parvati, one of the Gryffindors, told him.

Pansy Parkinson sniffed. "Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom? Never thought _you'd_ like a fat little cry babies, Parvati."

Parvati was about to say something back, but Draco interrupted, his attention elsewhere.

"Look! It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him." He picked up the Remembrall out of the grass.

Suddenly, for the first time, I saw someone speak up against him. "Give that here, Malfoy." It was Harry Potter. Of course.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect - how about - up a tree?" Draco suggested with a malevolent smile.

"Give it _here_!" Harry shouted with more confidence as Draco mounted his broom and took off.

"Come and get it, Potter!"

"No!" Hermione, seemingly one of the smartest in the year, and evidently one of the most sensible, shouted at Harry. "Madam Hooch told us not to move - you'll get us all into trouble."

Ignoring her, Harry took off after Draco, flying well for a muggle-born, amidst several screams and gasps from the ground and a cheer from Ronald, his now best friend.

"Give it here or I'll knock you off that broom!" Harry ordered.

Draco looked a little worried when he replied. "Oh, yeah?"

Harry was a better flyer than anyone could have predicted, including Draco, as the two of them flew around, the former chasing the latter. I joined a few of the Gryffindors in applauding Harry as he pulled off a rather impressive turn.

"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called and Draco's eyes narrowed as he mentally acknowledged his defeat.

"Catch it if you can, then!" he cried, throwing the Remembrall upwards, and returning to the ground, dropping his broom and folding his arms triumphantly.

As the Remembrall sped back towards the ground, Harry shot after it, straight down. He managed to catch it just before it hit the ground and was about to hoist it up in the air to show us, when I saw Professor McGonagall running towards us from the castle. He'd be in trouble now.

"HARRY POTTER!" she bellowed. "_Never_ - in all my time at Hogwarts -" She seemed almost speechless and very, very shocked. "- how _dare_ you - might have broken your neck -"

Parvati stepped forward. "It wasn't his fault, Professor -"

"Be quiet, Miss Patil," Professor McGonagall began, only to be cut off by Ronald.

"But Malfoy -"

"That's _enough_, Mr Weasley." No one else said anything. "Potter, follow me, now."

Draco, Vincent and Greg laughed as she led him away and Madam Hooch returned a few minutes later.

The flying lesson continued, despite the absence of two of the Gryffindors, without further incidence.

By Transfiguration, the news had already apparently spread around the Hufflepuffs that Harry had been chosen as the Seeker of Gryffindor's Quidditch team. Louis had overheard some of the Gryffindors talking about it in her previous lesson and passed the news onto me.

I sighed. "That's typical. Only a Gryffindor would be able to get out of any kind of punishment for doing something like that. Draco's just lucky he wasn't caught, or he'd probably have been expelled. He won't be happy when he finds out Harry's still here _and_ on the Quidditch team!"

Louis nodded. "First years never make the Quidditch teams. But, er, don't tell anyone. Lily Moon told me. Apparently she's friends with Katie Bell, who's also in the Gryffindor Quidditch team and she told her about it, but told her not to tell anyone, but Lily told me because... Well, I'm not quite sure why." She shrugged. "She told me not to tell anyone, but you're my best friend and I trust you. I trust you too, Devin," she added, realising that he had probably heard every word of the conversation.

When I got back to the common room that evening, it seemed that none of the other Slytherins had found out that Harry had been appointed Gryffindor Seeker. Draco seemed smug for some reason, which meant he was completely oblivious, while everyone else just looked their normal selves.

I quickly finished up the day's homework and, yawning, decided to get an early night.


End file.
